Costume Design
1949 (designed)
Artist/Maker | |
Place of origin |
Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean.
Messel’s painterly and poetic interpretation of medieval period costume and architecture complemented Christopher Fry’s verse play, The Lady’s Not For Burning (1949), about a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft in a small English market town around 1400. Fry's first play to be presented at a West End theatre, it won critical acclaim; one critic hailed it as ‘a poetic fantasy of rare splendour and delight.’ (The Times, 10 November 1950).
Messel created detailed charcoal and ink drawings for Alizon and Margaret’s gold jewellery, including a cross on a chain for Alizon and Margaret’s stomacher, a piece of stiff fabric underneath the lace of a bodice.
Messel’s painterly and poetic interpretation of medieval period costume and architecture complemented Christopher Fry’s verse play, The Lady’s Not For Burning (1949), about a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft in a small English market town around 1400. Fry's first play to be presented at a West End theatre, it won critical acclaim; one critic hailed it as ‘a poetic fantasy of rare splendour and delight.’ (The Times, 10 November 1950).
Messel created detailed charcoal and ink drawings for Alizon and Margaret’s gold jewellery, including a cross on a chain for Alizon and Margaret’s stomacher, a piece of stiff fabric underneath the lace of a bodice.
Object details
Categories | |
Object type | |
Materials and techniques | Charcoal, ink and gouache on paper |
Brief description | Costume design by Oliver Messel for Alizon's necklace in Christopher Fry's play The Lady's Not For Burning, 1949. |
Physical description | A costume design by Oliver Messel for Alizon's necklace in a H.M. Tennent production of The Lady's Not For Burning, 1949. Four designs in charcoal and ink including bodice decoration, a cross on a chain and a stomacher; the latter two designs for Margaret. |
Dimensions |
|
Production type | Design |
Marks and inscriptions |
|
Credit line | Acquired with the support of the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Art Fund and the Friends of the V&A |
Object history | The Lady’s not for Burning, a verse play in three acts by Christopher Fry. Oliver Messel’s production was first produced by H. M. Tennent Productions Ltd. at the Globe Theatre, London on 11 May, 1949. It was directed by John Gielgud and Esmé Percy and featured John Gielgud as Thomas Mendip, Pamela Brown as Jennet Jourdemayne, Claire Bloom as Alizon Eliot and Richard Burton as Richard. It was also performed at the Royale Theatre, New York, on 8 November, 1950. Lord Snowdon, Oliver Messel's nephew, inherited Messel's theatre designs and other designs and artefacts. The designs were briefly stored in a disused chapel in Kensington Palace before being housed at the V&A from 1981 on indefinite loan. The V&A Theatre Museum purchased the Oliver Messel collection from Lord Snowdon in 2005. Historical significance: Association with Christopher Fry's abortive poetic drama movement. |
Production | Reason For Production: Commission |
Summary | Great Britain’s leading theatre designer from the early 1930s to the mid 1950s, Oliver Messel (1904-1978) won international acclaim for his lavish, painterly and poetic designs informed by period styles. His work spans ballet, drama, film, musical, opera and revue. Messel’s traditional style of theatre design became unfashionable from the mid 1950s onwards, and he increasingly concentrated on painting, interior and textile design, including designing luxury homes in the Caribbean. Messel’s painterly and poetic interpretation of medieval period costume and architecture complemented Christopher Fry’s verse play, The Lady’s Not For Burning (1949), about a woman wrongly accused of witchcraft in a small English market town around 1400. Fry's first play to be presented at a West End theatre, it won critical acclaim; one critic hailed it as ‘a poetic fantasy of rare splendour and delight.’ (The Times, 10 November 1950). Messel created detailed charcoal and ink drawings for Alizon and Margaret’s gold jewellery, including a cross on a chain for Alizon and Margaret’s stomacher, a piece of stiff fabric underneath the lace of a bodice. |
Bibliographic reference | Pinkham, Roger (ed.) Oliver Messel, London, V&A, 1983
|
Other number | ROT 1638 - TM Rotation Number |
Collection | |
Accession number | S.134-2006 |
About this object record
Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.
Suggest feedback
Record created | June 15, 2006 |
Record URL |
Download as: JSONIIIF Manifest